//------------------------------// // Last Bastion On A Knife's Edge // Story: Rites of Ascension // by CvBrony //------------------------------// Spike pressed his face to the window. “Well, that's not something you see every day.”  Twilight looked out of another window of her chariot and wiped away the icy fog with a fetlock. Two meteors were screaming towards the ground, lighting up the night with blue and white streaks of light. She squinted and then covered her eyes as the light bloomed, and seconds after she blinked away the lingering spots in her eyes, a pair of sonic booms had the chariot rocking back and forth. “Yeesh.” Spike dug into the seats with his claws. “I knew alicorns were fast, but damn! We're hundreds of kilometres from a leyline and they still got here just a few minutes after we got back together.” Trixie huddled next to the air vent that was belching heat into the chariot. “Trixie would be grateful for more time in the chariot.” “I don't see any reason we can't have the meeting in here.” Cloud Burner wedged himself into the corner of the seat and the chariot wall. “It'll be a tight fit, but this thing was made to fit an alicorn.” “That was the idea.” Twilight stretched and prepared to get squished by two fully-grown alicorns entering her chariot. A glance at Rainbow, the other shorter-than-normal pony in her group, said that she was right to be worried. Celestia and Luna knocked at their door and waited only a heartbeat before climbing in. Luna put up a dome shield before closing the door, though that did nothing for the chariot’s groaning suspension. Spike and Rainbow were relegated to the chariot floor by the demands of geometry.  Twilight took a breath and told her tale. Rainbow and Cloud Burner paid attention like it was a military briefing, while Spike’s and Trixie’s eyes glossed over during the part about quantum mechanics. Luna was almost in tears, while Celestia carried herself with a stoicism anypony could tell was fake. A pause overtook the cabin after the tale was over. “So that's the situation. Moscolt will be destroyed in a few days unless we act immediately, which means messing with a mana krene in a way nopony has in the post-Discord era. Any ideas?” The Sisters looked at each other. “Luna, it's going to be up to you, I think. Can you do it?” Luna put her ears back. “Maybe? I'm awful at that spell, though.” “You're better at it than I am, though.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Care to explain?” Luna’s right ear drooped. “If the Syphon has been destroyed, odds are most of the defenses the city has are offline. Tia should be able to use a mid-range teleport to get us in… but first, I need to use a scrying spell to find where it is so that we don't pop into existence inside bedrock.” “Huh.” Rainbow tried to lean back but stiffened when she bumped her head on Cloud’s legs. “I would have thought you'd be good at that kind of thing.” Luna sighed.”It fits Our style, true, but things are what they are. Neither Tia nor We are very good at it. But if the krene is out of control, at least that could be a beacon to home in on. A lighthouse, so to speak. Much harder to do it with something ordinary.” Cloud grunted. “Okay, but what do we do when we get there?” Celestia flinched. “Luna and I are familiar with the city and the technology it has. I shudder to think what the Majestics are doing with it, but we'll deal with that after the current crisis.  “More importantly, towards the end of the war with Discord, Glacien allied with us, and gave us full access to his palace. If we can get into the command center, there may be mechanisms we can use to stabilize the krene. But only myself and Luna speak the language of that place, which means we have to go ourselves.” Twilight pointed at Spike. “You're immune to ice magic, so you're coming with us, just in case we need your fire. Rainbow, Trixie, Cloud, you'll stay here and organize with the Duke in case we fail and have to evacuate the city.” Spike pumped his fist and almost hit Trixie. “Nice!” Rainbow stuck out her lip. “Aww, I wanted to see the ice city.” “It's probably saturated with ice mana at this point.” Twilight reached for the door. “Rainbow, Cloud, hook up to the chariot. It'll be faster that way since Trixie can't fly. Let's do this.” Almost all of them piled out, and the chariot was taking off by the time Luna was getting ready to cast. She was writing symbols into a magic circle in the air, finishing with four concentric rings and a glowing, flickering orb in the center.  Twilight trotted up behind her, gazing and squinting at the orb, which was face level with Luna. She crouched and jumped, finding images of symbols flashing and rolling inside, but only when she was looking at it with the same angle as Luna. “Interesting. Wonder how that works…” Luna shrugged. “I know the formula, but I'll be damned if I can explain it. Just give me a few minutes.” Twilight stepped sideways to be under Celestia, who wrapped her under a warm wing. “Do you need Tia to flood the zone with fire mana for contrast?” “You're thinking a bit too scientific, honestly.” Luna squinted and murmured to herself. “There, I think I have it. Huge ice source, two hundred north, seventeen fifty east… nine thousand down.” Celestia lit her horn and started putting together a magic circle underneath them. “There's bound to be interference. The good news is I can build the spell to place us somewhere above it. That should be a safe place to exit the teleport. Be prepared for a sudden drop.” Luna tilted her head at her scrying spell. “Weird, there’s a smaller spike in the city.” A bell rang in Twilight's ear. “Where at?” “Don’t know, but we can find it later. I want to see Crystalvale again. It’s been too long.” Spike opened up a bag of candies and crunched one. “Sounds like you two have a real attachment to this place.” Celestia gazed to the sky as the light of teleportation overtook them. “More than either of you know.” The ground fell out from Twilight, and she flailed her legs as the ground of the ice city approached. Somehow she had her legs under her an instant before she hit, and even had her pegasus magic slow her to a relatively smooth landing. The fresh layer of ice she landed on, however, wanted nothing to do with being a landing pad.  Her legs splayed out and she landed on her stomach. “Oof!” she wheezed as the wind rushed out of her. “Jeez, Twi.” Spike landed with a crack as his armoured talons dug into the ice. “She did say to expect a drop.” Celestia was still falling like a feather, suspended by her outstretched wings. “It's harder without wings, Spike. And the ground is—” The instant Celestia's hind hooves touched the ice, they slipped and had the Princess of the Sun on her back and sliding a half block down the road they'd landed on. Roaring laughter echoed in the cave with thunderous rumbles, as Luna about lost it. She was on a nearby building and rolling around on its roof. Celestia snorted at her. “Oh, go lick a frozen flagpole, Lulu.” Twilight giggled and coughed to get air back in her lungs. She flopped over on her back and eyed the road she was on. The cave entrance she'd originally found wasn't very far away, and it was filled with ice. The barrier must have failed, but when the water rushed in, the ice mana turned it into a big plug. Well, a win is a win. She pointed this out to the Princesses, although it was doubtful Luna heard her over her own laughter. Celestia quickly took in the scene while still upside-down, then righted herself enough to sit on her belly. With a flap of her wings, flame spiralled around her, melting the thin layer of ice nearby so she could stand. “In truth, I'm much more worried about the status of the Syphon and the command center. If the latter is operational, we might be able to save the city. Come; let's get to the palace.” After Luna finally calmed down, the group made way for the palace near the center of the city. The stairs in front of the entrance were made of a material that felt the same as that which made up most of the rest of the city, but was much clearer. It looked more like sapphire than stone, and continued into the floor of the palace proper. The inside looked similar to that of Canterlot Castle, although with a different colour motif and widespread usage of the strange building material the rest of the city had. Had Twilight not known better, she'd have thought it inspired by Equestria’s capitol, not the other way around. They made their way through a series of halls before reaching a three-story-tall pair of doors that looked like they were literally made of diamond. As they grew near, a hidden speaker crackled to life and put a live wire into Twilight's heart as it spoke something. “Is… Is there somepony still alive here?” Twilight swung her head around looking for the sound’s source. “That should be impossible!” Celestia shook her head. “No, that's an automated recording asking for our security code.” Luna groaned, her wings drooping. “I really didn't want to try testing myself against Glacien’s security today. But I suppose I can try to find a weakness in the spells somewhere.” “No need.” Celestia placed a hoof on the door. “Tölva. Viðurkenna. A C 5 K T 9. Celestia.” A buzz vibrated the ground, and the doors moaned as they opened outwards. Luna’s jaw hung open. “You still remember the security code he gave us?! That was four thousand years ago! And we only had use of the place for a short time…” “Well, I did remember to write it down. And created a mnemonic device for it.” “But four thousand years! I couldn't even—“ Luna was interrupted by the roar of an alarm and the flashing of red lights beyond the doors. “Is it still in condition red?” Twilight swallowed. “Please tell me that isn't an intruder alarm.” Celestia pressed forward through the doors. “No, the code was valid. This is a state of general alarm, which could possibly have been going on since the final battle with Discord. If not, the disconnection of the Syphon would certainly have caused it. Honestly, I'm more surprised that such systems are still operational, but that's a good thing. It means we may have more options once we reach the command center.” The inside reminded twilight of the War Room back in Canterlot, though it was larger and wider. The halls still had what appeared to be offices behind locked doors, and wide open areas with many alcoves. Gone, however, was the smell of stale coffee and paper. In its place was ice and dust wrapped in a dryness that laughed at the locked-up water all around. Moreover, not a single scrap of paper was to be found, nor pen or pencil. There were no maps or documents, nor cork-board or chalk, but there were some seats and tables. After another set of diamond doors, their path opened to a cavernous room. In the center was a table with a steel base; it looked like a top made of diamond. It was as if the entire thing was one enormous gem mounted into the stand. There were seats placed around it, along with one much larger than the rest: a throne of clear crystal. The rest of the room was filled with miniature mimics of the center, more diamond tables with seats, but there were no thrones, and the whole thing was sized down.  “I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess this is the command center.” Spike looked up, down, and around the area. “Any way to kick on more lights that aren’t pulsing red? I don't see a light switch.” “That depends on if the systems here are still operational.” Celestia turned her head to look at her sister. “If you could, translate what I say for Twilight and Spike. It'll help them understand.” Luna nodded. “Certainly.” Celestia spread her wings and spoke again in that other tongue. <> A voice, clearly feminine, responded from everywhere and nowhere. <> “Rats.” Celestia looked like she had bit into a lemon. “Without the automation system here, I don't know if we'll be able to fix this.” “Hang on.” Luna trotted to a door towards the back. “Troubleshooting 101: make sure everything is plugged in. The server stack should be back here. Give me a few.” The door opened as she approached, and the princess trotted into the dark room. Minutes passed, and they were accompanied by copious amounts of un-Princess-like swears from the other room. Spike cringed after a particularly foul string of words. “Doesn't sound like it's going too well.” The ground began to hum and vibrate, and lights hidden in various nooks and crannies came to life in a warm white hue. Letters, symbols, diagrams, maps, and all manner of information just sprang up all around them. Most of the information  was showing on the walls, but over each of the gem tables, holographic displays of various sizes sprang to life. Twilight’s and Spike’s jaws nearly hit the floor. “What is this?” they both asked. Twilight shook her head right and left to try to settle the marbles bouncing around inside her skull. “The amount of magic that must have been used to create this—!” “Not magic.” Luna emerged from the back room, closing the door behind her. “Most of this is pure technology, just thousands of years more advanced than what Equestria has currently. The fact that most of it is still working is a testament to how far we came before Discord tore it all away. This may be the last remaining city of the old world. Somehow, the old fart saved it, but couldn't save his own ponies.” Most of the displays flashed red with a single word over them, repeated over and over: skekkja. “I'm guessing that's not good.” Twilight put her ears back. “It says ‘error.’” Celestia placed a hoof on the center table. <> All of the displays went blank for several seconds, then flickered back to life one at a time. If Twilight had some months, she might be able to figure out what all of them said. The sheer amount of information flashing in front of her on all the screens was like a book per second, whole stories being told in the blink of an eye. Finally, the main display settled on a single screen. Much of the text was blue, but a substantial portion was in red. “Hmmm…” Celestia murmured to herself as she read over what was being shown. “Only the core of the city survived the trip down here. There wasn’t much of a manufacturing base here to begin with, and none of it is down here. Good. As for the Syphon… it might have survived intact and functional until Flicker’s sabotage, but an awful lot of other equipment did not. I don't know if it will be able to stabilize the krene.” “No backup systems?” Twilight tilted her head. “Flicker said that this place was built with a lot of redundancies.” Celestia’s eyes lit up. “Of course! The secondaries.” She lifted her head to speak to the room. <> A map of the city appeared in the air, along with dozens of red dots and a pair of green. Luna sighed. “No good. Looks like most of them are no longer functional. Two small secondary syphons won't be enough to stabilize the krene.” Spike raised his hand. “Uh, can't we fix them? Like you did with whatever was back there?” Luna snorted back a chuckle. “You might as well ask a woodworker to fix an airship engine. It's just too different.” Celestia sprang up to her hooves. “You might not know how, but the system does! The repair drones!” <> The screen started beeping while a circle slowly filled. “Drones?” Spike asked. “Like, changeling drones?” “No, they are…” Celestia cringed a little, like some distasteful word was caught in her teeth. “Okay, both of you. You know how a mechanical calculator works? Like what accountants have? These machines around us—‘computers’—can perform trillions of trillions of calculations per second, and they don't need a pony for every input. They can be programmed with ‘algorithms’—a recipe of mathematical functions, one feeding into the next. The big one in the back room is simply extremely powerful, but we can make small ones that are less powerful, yet are still able to do more math in one second than an entire Duchy’s school children will do in 100 years. “The drones are machines, like robots in science-fiction novels. They have smaller computers in them, and they know exactly how to repair an awful lot of the systems in the city.” The screen beeped again. Luna swore something in a language Twilight didn't recognize. “Only 4 of 50 industrial repair drones are functional. “ Celestia shook her head. “That’s not going to be enough to fix all the syphons in time.” Twilight bit down on her hoof for a moment. “Can… can the repair drones fix repair drones?” Celestia and Luna looked at each other.  Luna put her ears back. “We’re dummies.” “Big dummies too used to the post-Discord world.” <> <> Twilight almost choked on what must have been a piece of ice that spontaneously appeared in her throat. “That’s not going to be fast enough… My spell will lose power in three days.” Celestia half-spread one of her wings. “Accounted for in my plans. Luna can refresh the spell once every other day until the pressure subsides, and then we can plug the whole with concrete. That’s not the thing I’m most worried about, though.” <> A burst of sweat from Twilight’s brow froze over. ”Stored weaponry… That's right… if they could get here, they could potentially steal weaponry. What else could they have gotten their hooves on?” <> Celestia’s breath was fire compared to the chill in the air. “I don't know. But on that front, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is they shouldn't be able to reverse-engineer anything, and if the vaults are still vitrified so Discord-crazed ponies can't get them, then neither could the Majestics, even Flicker. Her little trick wouldn’t bypass a giant block of enchanted glass. “The bad news is, if they got hold of something that can make other things, or worse, weapons, they could manufacture equipment that would be beyond most ponies’ ability to deal with. At the very least, it would require direct intervention by high-level combatants like Generals or Night Guard.” Luna's eyes went wide and her ear twitched. “Oh! Wait a minute. Armor and weaponry from this era would have a very unique energy signature. It would be trivial to create something to detect it if we make the device here. It could lead us right to them.” Celestia ground her teeth for a moment. “Damn. Damn, damn, damn. I really didn't want to have to resort to this. Giving ponies technology beyond their means is a recipe for disaster, but if the Majestics have anything from here, I don't see a choice. We're also going to have to kick-start Equestria’s technological development, starting with those sensors.  “We can start by hammering out a crude version of it that our ponies can make themselves. That will require some other inventions to build up to it, but not many. We can put the patents under Twilight; ponies won't be surprised if she invents new things.” Twilight held up a hoof. “Um, I'm not sure how comfortable I am doing that kind of thing. It's one thing to go undercover, but this will be taking credit from a pony who might actually discover this in time.” “Desperate times, Twilight.” Celestia’s smile grew a new hint of warmth. “Also, as I recall, you're sitting on a new way to make solidified magic, no?” Twilight put her ears back. “I have the patent, yes, but I haven't been sure how or when to reveal  it.” “Now is as good a time as any. Run it by Intelligentsia first; I want to light a fire under the butts of those who can roll this technology out.” Luna tapped on one of the displays. “We should also bring a few bits from here with us, in case we need to immediately counter whatever the Majestics stole.” “Not yet.” Celestia waved her hooves about, and the displays reacted like she was touching them. <> <> A series of symbols popped up on the display, and Twilight and Spike repeated Luna’s explanations to memorize the code. Luna giggled. “Without having these codes, if any of those Majestics come back, they get a one-way trip to a cell and we can interrogate them! Should still bring stuff back with us...” Twilight tapped on one of the displays, and tilted her head when she couldn't understand what it told her. “Can this thing locate the primary Syphon? That's where the Element will be.” “Maybe,” Celestia said. <> The computer beeped and displayed what Twilight assumed were numbers.  Spike leaned against one of the chairs. “Well, that's cryptic.” Celestia smiled, and the room grew warmer. “Actually, it's not. That's a relative vector. We can use that to figure out where the Syphon should be. If I'm reading this correctly, it should have been dumped somewhere south of Stalliongrad, in the Raging Mountains. That's a bit of a pain, but nothing overwhelming. With a little luck, we can beat them to it.” Luna stood up and trotted towards one of the exits. “Before we go, there's one last thing I want to check. We should make sure they didn't get access to the degenerate bombs.” Spike’s belly jiggled as he laughed. “What do those do? Cause everyone to hide in their room in a pile of comics?” Twilight gave him a poke. “You're one to talk.” The princesses both put their ears back. With a sigh, Celestia stood to follow her sister. “No, Twilight. Do you remember the destroyed city in the desert? What I did, in my shame, was teach a select few of my ponies how to build a very crude degenerate-magic warhead. It was supposed to bring the war to an end without ever having been used — but they used it anyway. They did it while I was sleeping. To impress me. To earn the favor of their goddess.” Twilight and Spike both cringed before they ran to catch up to the Sisters, who had already gone through the doorway. Luna continued: “Glacien—heck, all of the old alicorns—had a small supply of sophisticated versions of those warheads. They're meant to be theoretically capable of taking out an alicorn in a single hit. In practice, we could simply teleport away, but the devastation left behind from one of these is unimaginable. It meant no alicorn could openly attack another without risk of losing their entire civilization. If the Majestics have one, the Elements aren't going to be our biggest worry.” “Actually, we have a saving grace there.” Celestia took the lead. “The solidified degenerate magic in the warheads only has a half-life of a few decades at best, so after four thousand years, they should be largely useless. The missiles themselves, as well as the explosives, could do some damage, but there would be no need to get their hooves on these for that. Dynamite is cheap.” Spike ran up to her. “But if everything here is automatic, wouldn't the machines try to fix that?” Celestia shuddered. “Fortunately, the creation of degenerate magic is something you need an alicorn or alicorn ascendant to do, at least to kick-start it. The machines wouldn't be capable of it.” They continued down the halls, now lined with more displays. They eventually came to a door the size of a barn wall and probably twice as thick as one, and it opened after Celestia yelled at it a bit. On the other side was something that looked like an airship torpedo, but an order of magnitude larger. The room was cylindrical to fit the missile, but more halls split off from it. Celestia barked out, <>  The computer made a few beeps. <> “Well, everything should be accounted for.” Celestia etched a bit of a spell in the ground. “We should get going to find Honesty.” Luna spread her wings. “You can go. I'm going to scavenge a bit here.” “Lulu.” Celestia said in a stern tone. “Leave the tech alone.” Luna stuck out her tongue. “If they have access to this stuff, we need some in our back pocket to pull out when they think they have the upper hoof. You can’t stop me, Tia. I’ll keep it safe. And I promise that I won’t be bringing a weapon of mass destruction.” Celestia turned her head as if struck. “Very well. Meet us back at the castle.” Twilight and Spike scrambled under Celestia’s wings as she brought them first to the surface, and then to their chariot. They had some travelling to do before they were in range of a leyline. The Raging Mountains lived up to their name. Many of them were active volcanoes. Although sudden eruptions were rare, lava aplenty bubbled and oozed from their peaks. Furthermore, steaming lakes of molten rock nestled in the valleys, and there were maelstroms that drew the lava back down. Overhead, constant storms danced about, creating an eternally boiling rage of thunder and mud. It was a region of fire-, water-, and lightning-mana krenes all mixed up with each other. It was geographic and thaumaturgical madness. In the northeast corner of the region, however, was a curious new feature. A city-sized iceberg had gobbled up an entire valley and silenced the storms above in the process. Blue light casted a strange glow over the valley, contrasting with the red and white lightning normally found there. “Welp,” Twilight said, falling back in her seat. “I think we’re there. Only question now is who got here first.” The chariot followed Celestia in a dive, coming to rest on the ice. The chill in the air mixed in with the volcanic heat like swirls in soft-serve ice cream. Spike and Trixie piled out first, with Twilight right behind. A quick flash of Sight confirmed that the glacier was infused with a crazy amount of ice mana. “Anybody got a pickaxe?” Spike asked while cracking his knuckles. “I don't have anywhere near enough fire in my belly to melt our way into this.” “I do.” Celestia raised both wings along with her horn. “It'll be extremely bright, however. I must ask all of you to face away. Even you, Twilight. Without the proper protections, this will blind you.” Trixie’s back hair stood on end as she snapped around and covered her eyes. The others followed suit, and then Twilight. She could still see light leaking through her covered eyes until Aurora stepped in and covered them with metal. The heat from it was like sitting under a heat lamp for hay fries, except this lamp was meant to do the frying as well. The whole group inched father away as the ice hissed and popped from the heat. Water ran underneath them as Celestia melted the glacier. It was several minutes before the sound stopped and Celestia called them over. She'd carved a slope down into the dark bowels of the glacier, and it was at once some kind of ravenous maw and the slide every foal dreams of having at recess. “I'm going first.” Spike rushed forward only to have Rainbow tackle him, and rather than pinning him down, she dove down the slope first.  Twilight buried her face in a hoof and groaned. “My guards are little foals.” Celestia tittered. “Oh, let them have some fun. I'll head down next, you follow. Trixie, Cloud, protect the chariot, just in case.” Cloud snapped off a salute while Trixie did a little bow.  It took every ounce of Twilight's restraint not to squee and giggle like a school filly. Her rump was almost frostbitten by the end, but most of her mental committee members were dancing as she slid into a hallway within the Syphon building, then kept going until she bumped into a wall. The whole structure was leaning to the side and a little back, making the corner of the floor and wall the new walking space.  Twilight deployed Aurora and carefully put each hoof on what was hopefully a surface with some friction, one at a time. “The Element should be at the core. Do you know the way, Tia? This place is a bit of a maze to me.” Celestia lit her horn and drilled into the wall with light and fire, this spell not as strong as the one prior. “It was made to be confusing on purpose. Those who looked lost were either new or not supposed to be there, and always got extra scrutiny. Most of us copied that idea for sensitive installations. Sadly, I've never visited this specific place before, but since it's already wrecked, I see no harm in making my own shortcut.” They busted through quite a few walls before reaching the core, and the last few before it had them walking over twisted pipes, wires, and all manner of sun-alicorn-mangled equipment before they got to where they needed to be. Once in the main chamber, Rainbow took off and flew to the core. “Found it! Ungh!” She grabbed it with her hooves and pulled. “Wow, that's really stuck on there.” Spike was using his claws to dig into and crawl up one of the side walls. “Think we might need our horn-equipped ponies for that, if she really did use that tape.” Celestia stood still for a moment as she slid on all for hooves, then spread her wings and stabilized herself with wind magic. “I think it'll be up to you, Twilight. I might damage something important if I tried to cut it out. The Elements are resilient, but I dare not test them with my power.” Twilight nodded and teleported herself up to the walkway. The Element of Honesty was still there, stuck to the core with clear tape. Grabbing onto an edge with her magic, she pulled at it. It slipped out of her grasp immediately. “This is going to take a while.” True to Flicker's word and then some, it took two hours to peel the tape off the Element enough to get it off. After nearly two years, the Element of Honesty was back in royal possession. It was covered in glue and tape, but it was finally again in the hooves of a fellow Element bearer. Tears froze as they exited Twilight's eyes. “Welcome home, Honesty.”